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¼ cup cider vinegar

1. Place a large (10-to 12-inch) heavy skillet over medium-low heat and add the olive oil. Let it heat for about 30 seconds, then add the butter and swirl until it melts.

2. Sprinkle in the cumin, ginger, chili powder, and thyme, and slowly stir the spices into the buttery oil with a wooden spatula or a wooden spoon. Keep the heat steady while you stir for about 2 minutes, or until the spices are fragrant.

3. Add the nuts, spreading them out in the pan. Sprinkle in the salt, and continue cooking and slowly stirring for about 2 minutes.

4. Sprinkle in the brown sugar, and continue to cook and stir for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until the sugar begins to melt and is just starting to adhere to the surface of the pan. (Scrape as you go, and if necessary use a table knife to scrape off the soft sugar coating that will likely have adhered to your wooden stirrer.)

5. Pour the vinegar into the pan. It will sizzle dramatically. (Don’t inhale near the pan at this moment.) Keep stirring for another 30 seconds, and you will see that the vinegar is deglazing the pan, loosening up all the tasty stuff that has stuck to its surface. Turn off the heat, and wait about 5 minutes for the nuts to absorb the vinegar.

6. Transfer the nuts to a bowl and let cool until they are at a comfortable tasting temperature. Taste to see if you think they need more salt, and adjust accordingly. Serve right away, or allow to cool and then transfer to a resealable plastic bag for storage.

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GET CREATIVE

You can give the finished nuts an even deeper flavor with a brief final toasting in the oven: Adjust the rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking tray with foil and spray it with nonstick spray. Spread out the spiced nuts on the tray, and bake them for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they turn an even deeper golden brown. Keep an eye on them the entire time, so they don’t burn. Remove the nuts from the oven, and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Toss in ½ cup minced crystallized ginger after the nuts have cooled down.

Use as a garnish for green salads, cooked grains, or any vegetable side dish where it seems to fit.

Make this vegan by omitting the butter.

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bacon-wrapped fruit bites

Makes 12 bacon bites; serves 4 to 6 as a party snack

Prepare yourself for a warm and wonderful one-two punch of flavor—salty, crunchy, and smoky at first, and then blissfully sweet. Dried apricots come in two types: the thin, very tart kind that are halves, and a thicker, plumper, sweeter type that are whole apricots with their pits removed, known as Turkish apricots. For this recipe, you want the Turkish type. Look for them at natural foods stores, good produce markets, and specialty grocery stores. The best setup for this is a rectangular rack (the kind you cool cookies on) set onto (or ideally into) a foil-lined baking tray with sides (often called a jelly roll pan). This will allow the bacon fat to drip down and away from the bites, keeping them crisp. If you don’t have these items, just bake the bites directly on a foil-lined baking tray, and then drain them on paper towels before serving.

Vegetable oil spray

6 slices bacon, “regular” or turkey

12 Turkish-style dried apricots or pitted prunes, or a combination

1. Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a shallow-sided baking pan with foil, and set a cooling rack on top. Spray the rack with nonstick spray.

2. Cut each slice of bacon in half crosswise to make 12 pieces, each about 4 inches long.

3. Wrap each apricot or prune with a half-slice of bacon, covering as much of the fruit as you can. The bacon will overlap a bit, but it shouldn’t go around twice. Place each piece, seam side down, on the prepared rack. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the bacon is crisp on the bottom.

4. Use tongs to carefully turn the bites over, and insert a toothpick into each one to secure the bacon ends. Bake for another 10 minutes,